Dirty Knees, from Feb. 8th '04 by Evelyn Wolf
Reap Bloomin’ Rewards from Winter Pruning!
:
Forcing spring bloomers to
bloom early indoors.
by Evelyn Wolf
I love spending February in the garden pruning.
I could do it in March, but it’s hard to wait that long before getting up close and personal with my plants again.
As one of the first necessary outdoor gardening tasks, it is another calendar checkmark that moves us with increased anticipation toward spring.
February pruning not only breaks the winter blahs but is also the time when you can really see the structural framework of your trees or shrubs and prune for repair and improvement.
With a few exceptions, this is the best time for general maintenance pruning.
If the plants you’re pruning are spring bloomers, there's a bonus to be had! Putting the cut branches through a simple treatment to trick them into blooming early indoors is another wonderful way to get some winter gardening gratification.
Here’s what to do.
Forsythia, Magnolia, Cherry, Crabapple, Lilac, etc. – any tree or shrub whose natural flowering time is early to late spring is a candidate for forcing.
It's a pretty straightforward procedure with the only critical ingredient for success being timing. Candidate branches
must have at least six weeks of freezing temperature before the embryonic flower buds formed the previous autumn at the leaf nodes, will be willing to break dormancy.
This brings us to more or less now – February, as the earliest cut branches can be forced to flower.
March is fine, and probably better for late spring bloomers like lilac, but earlier than mid-February may result in shriveled barren branches instead of blooms.
Select young but strong branches approx. ½” diameter or less and cut them to a desired length.
Look for ones that have lots of plump buds.
Flower buds are rounder and fatter than leaf buds, but if they’re too small to tell the difference just trust that by choosing branches that aren’t too small or too old you’ll have flowers.
Cleanliness is important since, just as with cut flowers in the summer, it is bacteria allowed to enter the wound area that shortens vase life.
Dipping your bypass pruners into a weak bleach solution before trekking outdoors will do the job.
Keep cut branches outdoors and out of the sun until you’re ready to put them through the following treatment. Tucked under a blanket of snow is perfect, and as long as they are protected like this they can wait a day or two.
Back inside where it’s warm, fill a sink or tub with water as hot as your hands can take.
Bring in only as many branches at a time as will fit in your sink and put them immediately into the hot water.
Keeping the cut ends underwater at all times, re-cut them at an extremely slanted angle to maximize the interior surface area exposed to water.
For very plump or very long branches make a 1” cut up the middle of the stem end to expose even more interior surface area.
Use a clean sharp knife and remember to keep at least the stem ends underwater at all times.
Immersing the entire branch during this procedure is ideal, but not often do-able.
While your branches are waiting in their soaker bath, fill a clean bucket with warm water and mix in floral preservative as per label instructions and 1 tbsp of Listerine per quart of water.
This will promote water uptake and slow down bacteria growth.
Adding a few drops of essential oil of Lavender will assist the bacteria killing action and make the whole experience that much more pleasant.
As quickly as you can without making a huge mess, move your prepared stems from the tub of hot water and put the cut ends into this bucket of preservative.
Your branches are now ready for use but will take two to three weeks to fully open their flower buds.
You can leave them in the bucket of preservative in a cool place until the buds begin to open, or arrange them in a sturdy vase positioned in a prominent place where all can watch the beauty of spring unfold.
To maximize vase life keep your bucket or vase out of sunlight and change the water every few days for a fresh mix of preservative and warm water.
Mist occasionally, keep them as cool as possible, and enjoy!
© Evelyn Wolf 2004
